Friends in Christ Weekly Message
January 23, 2010

     . . . no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don't need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You're fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way - the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
     The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
     You are Christ's body - that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.
1 Corinthians 12:19b-27 (Message*)

What a telling analogy! But how often do we forget this truth about the body of believers?

Do you accept the part that you are in the body? Do you respect and honor those in the least public, most humble roles in the body?

Bill Samuel

* The Message version ©1993-2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.

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